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Spock and Dr.McCoy are walking through the corridors of the USS Enterprise, where they encounter CrewmanNorman, who joined the Enterprise crew only 72 hours before. McCoy mentions that Norman is odd and unemotional; for some reason, Spock hasn't noticed. Norman makes his way into auxiliary control, where he knocks out Jordan, the crewman on duty and activates the override.

On the bridge, LieutenantSulu reports a course change whereupon CaptainKirk sends security to auxiliary control, but to no avail. Sulu tries to override the course change, but fails.

Norman then breaks into the emergency manual monitor and engineering section, knocks out much of the engineering crew, and jams the controls. A dazed Scott hails the bridge and informs Kirk that the intruder is in engineering. Later, Norman emerges from the turbolift onto the bridge and announces he is in control – any attempt to alter course will destroy the ship. He then says "we" don't intend harm to humanoid life, but rather require the ship, and opens up a panel in his abdominal region, revealing himself to be an android.

Norman announces that he's locked the controls and that they will arrive at their destination in four solar days. He then promptly shuts down in front of the bridge's turbolift.

"Captain's log, stardate 4513.3. After having been taken over by an android, the Enterprise has been underway at warp 7 for four days. Now, we are entering orbit around a planet which has never been charted."

Four days later, the Enterprise enters orbit around an uncharted planet. Norman wakes up and announces that Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, and Chekov must beam down, or he will destroy the engines, stranding the Enterprise in orbit forever.

King Mudd the First

The planet is Class K, which means that it can be adapted for life with the help of a large amount of machinery. They are ushered into the presence of Harry Mudd, sitting on a throne and drinking from a goblet, who declares that here he is Emperor: Mudd the First. He declares that Kirk and crew must stay for the rest of their lives on the planet, now also named Mudd.

Harry Mudd is surrounded by androids, who for the most part are a slew of beauties – 500 in the Alice class alone. He implies that these androids can provide for him anything he wants.

Mudd goes on to explain his presence on the planet and tells them that he had been sent to prison by Kirk and company after his last encounter with the Enterprise crew and the affair on the Rigel mining planet. After his escape, he had been employing himself by illegally reselling patents. He was caught selling a Vulcanfuel synthesizer to the Denebians and, upon being informed of Mudd's deception, sentenced to death on Deneb V; fortunately for him he was able to steal a ship and get away despite being shot at. After drifting aimlessly for a while, he found himself on his planet.

The problem is, of course, that he has gotten bored, and the androids won't let him go. Kirk and his crewmates are there because he told the androids to go and get a starship, so the crew could stay and he could leave.

Mudd then demonstrates to Kirk and McCoy an android replica of his shrewish wife Stella; he amuses himself by telling her to shut up whenever he likes, thereby finally getting the last word with his wife.

The androids bring them to a recreation area, where they reveal that they were made by the Makers, a humanoid race from the Andromeda Galaxy. Their home planet's sun went nova and only a few exploratory outposts survived. After the androids leave the room, Spock surmises that the number of androids and their interactions are such that they cannot operate independently, and logically, there should be a central control system which guides the entire android population.

Spock finds what appears to be a central control room. Norman is there, but will not tell Spock much about the controls; he is "not programmed to respond in this area".

Kirk and Uhura are being shown the Barbara series of robots by Mudd and Alice. Uhura asks how long they last; the answer comes back – 500,000 yrs. Plus, they can put a Human brain in the android – effective immortality. Uhura seems to respond well to this idea.

"They're all down now.""Are you out of your mind?! You can't beam down an entire crew of a spaceship!"

Back in the recreation room, Scott is forcefully brought down to Mudd by the androids and joins the rest of the crew. Scott is the last of the Enterprise's personnel to be brought down and androids are now completely running the ship.

Because the androids can provide whatever the crew wants, Kirk is worried his crew will be tempted. Chekov, for example, is being serviced by two Alice androids, and seems to be enjoying it a great deal, noting that "this place is even better than Leningrad." Scott, on the other hand, is quite interested in their engineering facilities.

Mudd gets knocked out

Kirk and his crewmates are planning to escape – Uhura and Chekov seem to be enjoying it there, but Kirk snaps them out of it. An Alice comes in and promises anything to make them happy, and Kirk says he can't be happy without their ship. Alice doesn't respond to this very well; she asks Norman (who is not present) to coordinate, and promptly leaves.

Imagination trumps logic

Mudd is saying goodbye to the androids when Kirk comes in to have a chat with him. To no one's surprise but Mudd's, the androids won't let him leave. The androids then reveal their plan: to "serve" Humans until they will become completely dependent upon the androids. "Their aggressive and acquisitive instincts will be under our control. We shall... take care of them."

Spock figures out that Norman coordinates the androids, for two reasons: first, there is only one Norman, but many of the others, and second, when Alice was confused earlier, she asked Norman to coordinate. They decide to target Norman with insane logic in an attempt to overload the central control.

They decide to provide an escape attempt, because the androids will be expecting one. They knock Mudd out – over his vehement protests – and then tell the androids he will die without a trip to the Enterprise for treatment. Uhura then pretends to betray the crew for immortality.

At this point, the crew puts their real plan into action. They engage in a surreal pantomime for two of the Alice androids in order to confuse them. The androids cannot rationalize the conflicting and illogical inputs and suspend operation.

Mudd reacts in horror as he realizes the full extent of his "parole".

Elsewhere, Spock tries to nerve pinch another Alice, but it has no effect. He then causes two other Alice androids to freeze up by telling one he loves her, but the other he hates her. The androids can't deal with this, as they are identical in every way – it is illogical to love one and not the other.

When this seems to work, they decide to take down Norman. After a series of over the top speeches, android imitations and pantomimed deaths and explosions, a recitation of the Liar's Paradox ("Everything I say is a lie. I am lying." Am I a liar or not?) finally incapacitates Norman and, with him, the remainder of the androids.

"Goodbye, Harry. Have fun."

Mudd is left on the planet for an indeterminate amount of time under a type of "parole" as an example to the androids of a Human failure. He is quite happy with his sentence – the androids can provide him with as much of whatever he wants as he likes – until he learns that he has to share the planet with at least three and possibly up to 500 copies of his wife, Stella. Furthermore, he has no control over them and they are programmed to harangue and annoy him as much as possible. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise bid Mudd farewell and continue on their mission.

"Do you know what the penalty for fraud is on Deneb Five?"
"The guilty party has his choice. Death by electrocution, death by gas, death by phaser, death by hanging..."
"The key word in your entire peroration, Mr. Spock, was...death. Barbarians!"

- Harry Mudd and Spock

"She urged me on into outer space. Not that she meant to, but with her continual, eternal, confounded nagging... Well, I think of her constantly. And every time I do, I go further out into space."

- Mudd, on his wife Stella

"Harcourt Fenton Mudd, where have you been? What have you been up to? Have you been drinking again, you miserable sot! You good-for-nothing–!"
"SHUT UP!!"

- Chekov, after learning that Mudd programed the Alice androids to function as Human females

"It's a beautiful lady, and we love her."

- Kirk, describing the Enterprise to Alice 471

"You may be a wonderful science officer, but believe me, you couldn't sell fake patents to your mother! "
"I fail to understand why I should care to induce my mother to purchase falsified patents."

- Mudd to Spock, as Kirk and Spock devise an escape plan

"Next, we take the Alices on a trip through Wonderland."

- Kirk, on the next phase of the escape plan

"Logic is a little tweeting bird, chirping in a meadow. Logic is wreath of pretty flowers that smell bad. Are you sure your circuits are registering correctly? Your ears are green!"

- Spock, as he confuses Norman

Norman collapses under the weight of lies

"You offer us only well-being."
"Food and drink and happiness mean nothing to us. We must be about our job."
"Suffering, in torment and pain. Laboring without end."
"Dying and crying and lamenting over our burdens." (with McCoy) "Only this way can we be happy."

- McCoy and Scotty

"What is a man but that lofty spirit, that sense of enterprise, that devotion to something that cannot be sensed, cannot be realized but only dreamed! The highest reality."

- Kirk, after Scott plays dead

"I am not programed to respond in that area."

- Kirk's final words to Norman as the android shuts down

"'Kirk...YOU CAN'T DO THIS....IT'S INHUMAN."

- Mudd to Kirk upon finding out he is subject to the parole supervisions of 500 copies of Stella Mudd android

"Now you'll find yourself back among us illogical Humans again."
"Which I find eminently satisfactory, Doctor, for nowhere am I so desperately needed as among a shipload of illogical Humans."

I, Robot, Isaac Asimov's 1950 android-themed short story collection, the title of which was itself inspired by...

"I, Robot", Eando Binder's 1939 short story with an android hero, which had been adapted for TV in 1964 with Leonard Nimoy in a supporting role.

I, Claudius, a 1934 novel by Robert Graves about the life of the Roman Emperor Claudius (the 1976 BBC production of which featured Patrick Stewart). Like Mudd "The First" in this episode, the subject of I, Claudius is also a despotic ruler who views himself in a more flattering light.

The first draft of the script devoted more attention to Norman's act of diverting the Enterprise to Mudd, with the crew only arriving at the end of the second act. [1] After an examination revealed Norman as an android, Scotty expressed an urge to take Norman apart – quickly adding that it was "nothing personal." Norman understood. (The Star Trek Compendium)

David Gerrold did an uncredited rewrite on this episode. One of the significant changes he made, at Gene Coon's request, was to get the crew on to the planet by the end of the first act. Other notable contributions were the gag of the five hundred identical female robots, and more material relating to Stella. Coon offered to submit the script for arbitration so that Gerrold would receive credit and residuals. However, Gerrold declined as he felt it would be stealing from Stephen Kandel, who had created Harry Mudd. [2]

Clocking in at approximately five minutes and 35 seconds, this episode's teaser is the longest in the original series.

Using identical twins for each android "series" aided the photographic-effects budget for the episode. With imaginative use of twins and split screens, as many as six of one model were shown at once, while two of the same model required nothing but an additional costume. This ultimately gave the illusion of a planet of thousands of androids. (The Star Trek Compendium)

While searching for identical twins to play androids, casting director Joseph D'Agosta found two young girls (apparently prostitutes) walking on Hollywood Boulevard with their pet wild cat. He brought the two girls to meet producer Gene L. Coon and associate producer Robert H. Justman. While they inspected the girls, Coon had to hold the wild cat (named Marlon), which consequently scratched him with its claws and tore his entire shirt. The girls were deemed unsuitable for the role. [3] (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, pp 332-333)

One of the blooper reels offered a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of the sequence where the crew dances to the imaginary music. The blooper reel clip featured actual music, specifically the theme to the Desilu/Paramount series Mannix.

The TOS Season 2 blooper reel contains a blown scene from this episode in which Harry Mudd declares his androids have taken control of the Enterprise. In the aired scene, William Shatner grabs Roger C. Carmel by his tunic, as if ready to throttle him. In the blooper, Shatner reaches up and grabs Carmel's mustache and as Carmel laughs, apparently surrendering with arms raised, Shatner turns and grins at the camera, his eyebrows waggling.

This episode, which used string-and-brass melodies to capture both the humor of the situations and Kirk's serious intent, was composer Samuel Matlovsky's only Star Trek assignment. (The Star Trek Compendium)

The piece of equipment found in Norman's lab and workshop would be recycled for future episode, appearing in the corridors of the Enterprise. Parts of the device that contained the nanopulse laser were later seen in Dr. McCoy's lab.

This episode further establishes the time frame of Chekov's assignment to the Enterprise. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, we learn that Chekov was aboard when "Space Seed"'s events took place. His question to Kirk, "You know this man, captain?" tells us he was definitely not aboard when Harry Mudd made his first appearance.

According to Walter Koenig, NBC considered making a spin-off series detailing the comical adventures of Harry Mudd after the success of this episode. They assigned Gene Roddenberry to develop the idea, but being busy with Star Trek and other projects, he didn't have time for it, and the series was never conceived. [4] However, Mudd appears in the cartoon version of Star Trek up to his usual tricks.

"I, Mudd" was the sixth episode of the remastered version of The Original Series to air, premiering in syndication on the weekend of 14 October2006.

Aside from the standard CGI replacement footage of the Enterprise, this episode most notably featured new effects shots of the planet Mudd (now a planet with a ring system), as well as a revision to the footage of Norman revealing his android circuitry.